A senior Miriwoong artist and cultural custodian, Peggy Griffiths-Madij maintains both the ephemeral and the unchanging

connections of Country. Through her arts practice she responds to her environment and her place within it; its subtle transitions and spiritual relationship. Her elegant yet powerful imagery documents the custodianship handed to her by her mother and grandfather. The artist transports the viewer on a journey across her Country connected to the rhythm of seasons and the life giving source of food, water and cultural knowledge. In this image of Jalin Country, one which the artist daily awakens to, key landmarks, ridges, hills and dreaming sites are recorded. Woorrilbem, featured in the centre of the painting is an important source of bush food for Miriwoong people. The billabong also holds an important personal family narrative connecting the artist and her family to her past and her culture. Small boab nuts motifs encase the country symbolising the abundance of this bush tucker important for its vitamin C and sustenance the plant provides throughout the year: young boab roots can be eaten raw, green boab nuts can be roasted in the ground, dry boab nuts can be eaten as soon as they fall off the tree, while their seeds can be roasted. The joyous motifs reference boab carving, a longtime tradition for Miriwoong people. The gracious brush work and delicate ochre colours of the boabs shimmer across the surface symbolising many other forms of bush food found in the artist's Country such as Jilinybeng (bush cucumber), garrjang (waterlily), moonamang (geese), and iyirreng (kangaroo) which have sustained her people for thousands of years. For Peggy Griffiths-Madij “Country is everything. It has all the food, medicine, spirit and happiness.”